Pixar’s animated Coco is wholly inspired, from story to design, by the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. And at one point during its development, the film also paid tribute with a showstopping opening.

The uplifting tale (debuting on digital HD platforms Feb. 13, and Blu-ray/DVD Feb. 27) of young Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) and his journey to the Land of the Dead to visit his ancestors is full of catchy tunes. Remember Me is up for best original song at the Oscars, where Coco will also compete for best animated movie. But there used to be a bunch more songs when Coco was envisioned as a wall-to-wall musical, and usatoday.com has the exclusive debut of a scrapped beginning that offered a colorful introduction to Dia de los Muertos and the colorful cinematic world.

“This was in for a very long time, a number of years, before we changed it,” co-director/writer Adrian Molina says of the film’s original opener. It’s a peppy number with dancing skeletons and fireworks that showcases Dia de los Muertos as a period of celebration and remembering departed family members but definitely not sadness. “It’s not a time for being mournful, it’s not a time to bow your heads,” the chorus sings. “Because the fun has just begun, after you die a lot is done, the party’s anything but dead.”